Navy Plane Crashes in S. China Sea, 2 Missing
MANILA — A U.S. Navy attack bomber crashed in the South China Sea on a routine night mission, a spokesman for the 7th Fleet said Wednesday. The pilot and navigator were reported missing.
Lt. Lee Saunders said the Grumman A-6E Intruder crashed almost 400 miles southwest of Subic Bay Naval Base.
Howard Thomas, a spokesman for the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state, where the plane was based, identified the missing pilot as Lt. Cmdr. Jeffrey Mines, 35, of North Bend, Neb., and the navigator as Lt. Cmdr. Arthur Braun, 37, of Georgetown, Tex.
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